What Is There to Be Learned and How? Learning Through the Lens of the Self

In this chapter, I describe sociocultural underpinnings of learning. Learning, I argue, is central to the development of the self and guided by socioculturally shared ideas about what it means to be a good person. Students are confronted with fundamental questions, such as ‘How can I manage to become an independent agent in my own life, while, at the same time, be an interdependent part of stable, social relationships?’ I review the consequences of an independent versus an interdependent construal of the self for learning beliefs structured along four questions: (1) What are subjectively important goals of learning; (2) What processes does learning involve; (3) What affective responses are triggered by learning, and (4) What are the characteristics of the ideal learner and teacher? I will then use this framework to discuss some of the contributions collected in this volume.